Langdon Palmer

The fifth window of Psalm 103 is one a lot of us don’t like to look out – the window that faces our mortality, the one that causes us to think about our own deaths. And yet true wisdom and true freedom are found here. In fact, when understood the right way, empowered by the Holy Spirit of God, it can cause us to embrace life with new passion and hope. We start with a classic scene from “The Dead Poet Society” , meet Scrooge on Christmas morning, then end with the power and promises of God.

Often life can seem like a barren wilderness – a brutal desert where nothing grows. And there are many voices to tell us that any claim that there is more to life is a mirage at best and an evil lie at worst. But hidden down between the barren wastelands there is a thin green ribbon of flourishing and growth that winds its way through life. Those who walk it encounter the hope, love, and peace of God. Join us today as we hear the harshest critics of Christianity as well as the sure voice of the One who loves us to the moon and back.

Is Christianity about individual conversion or about social justice ? Is the focus my personal spiritual journey or national policies for the poor and oppressed ? Today we continue our verse by verse exploration of Psalm 103 as we come to a fascinating two verses that connect ancient history to our current cultural moment.

Today we join the author of Psalm 103 as he looks back along his life and all the ways that God has blessed him. We take a wild ride that ranges from the choices we have made all the way down to the latest scientifc discoveries about what is going on inside our bodies at the level of proteins and cells. And we end by encountering the word that is the secret that leads to an exceptional life.

Today we begin a wonderful six week journey through Psalm 103. Join us as we study and experience a psalm that can reset and reorient our relationship with God. See the Episode Notes for great quotes and resources.

In an attempt to try to live forever, some people do crazy things like having their bodies frozen in a cryogenic chamber in the hope of one day being brought back to life. Most of us are not that extreme, but are there ways we are attempting to live forever through our legacy ? If the unspoken truth is that we are terrified of death, this fear will distort the choices we make, it will rob us of the very life we are afraid of losing. When it comes to our lives, our legacy, our significance – do we try to set up shop on our own ? Do we try to create our own salvation, or do we trust in the God who is able to save us, who gives us our true meaning, who has the ability to resurrect us after death ? Today we look at how the characters of Tom Riddle and Harry Potter illustrate two very different life paths, and we turn to the scriptures to encounter he ultimate King’s Cross Station. It turns out we are standing there – right now.

Today we look at two stories in Harry Potter to help us understand the multidimensional meaning of three crucial words: Temptation, Repentance, and Reconciliation. We track what happened to Hagrid and Percy, and discover an amazing parallel to the story given by the master story teller, Jesus, known as “The Prodigal Son.”

What do you do when you come across teachings of Jesus that seem cold, abrupt, even rude ? What do you do when the teachings of Jesus offend you ? Would a good person ever come across as abrupt, rude, or cold ? Is there a difference between being a good person and being a nice person ? When the bible tells us that Jesus was unattractive and despised – do you think he would have been attractive to you ? Today we explore a side of the historical Jesus of Nazareth that people often avoid by considering his parallels to the most unlikely character imaginable in the Harry Potter series…

How can you know if your faith is real ? In a classic scene, Harry Potter is told that the passage to the other world of Hogwarts is achieved by going through what looks like a solid wall. On the surface, this advise makes no sense, but some kinds of truths that can only be known through experience. Today we look at what it means to take the leap of faith and how that is quite different than blind faith. We learn from Soren Kierkegaard what it means to have passionate faith and we turn to the book of Acts to see it in action. We face the reality that we tend to say to God “Show me and then I will trust you”, but we live in a world where God says “Trust me, and then I will show you…”

Do we really have free will, or is it just an illusion? Do you think you can control your future or do you believe whatever is going to happen is going to happen ? Is there such a thing as fate or destiny ? If there is a God and he is in complete control, how can our choices matter ? Today we face these fundamental questions about life and our introduction is the classic scene in Harry Potter where the Sorting Hat decides to which house he will be assigned. We then jump into the scriptures and discover that in the midst of all the uncertainty of life, the primal thing we need to know is this: Is God Kind, Is God good ? Can God be trusted ?